The Citizen - VT

10/30/2024

South Burlington police are investigating a robbery at the EastRise Credit Union on Shelburne Road on Tuesday, Oct. 29, around 4:52 p.m.

10/25/2024

📰 Newspaper publisher, editor passes baton to next generation
✏️ By The Citizen - VT

After nearly 40 years at the Vermont Community Newspaper Group, Greg Popa is retiring from the newspapers at the end of the year.

For the past 12 years, Greg has served as publisher and editor of the newspaper company, which includes five newspapers — The Stowe Reporter, News and Citizen, Shelburne News, The Citizen and The Other Paper of South Burlington — and their associated websites, Stowe Weddings, and Stowe magazine.

Prior to that Greg served as a photographer, reporter, editor and sales manager for the Stowe Reporter for more than two decades. Under his leadership, the newspaper company and its team of journalists and graphic artists have won several hundred awards through the New England Newspaper and Press Association Better Newspaper Contest, and Stowe magazine, which Greg has edited since 1991, has been recognized as the best in its class in New England just about every year since 2010.

During his tenure as publisher, he oversaw the acquisition of the News & Citizen and the three weeklies in Chittenden County. He was inducted into the New England Newspaper and Press Association Hall of Fame in 2022.

Fortunately for us, Greg has agreed to stay on and continue to edit and publish Stowe magazine.

He will be missed but his passion and professionalism will remain embedded in the journalistic culture of everything that we do.

Tommy Gardner, the current news editor, will replace Greg as editor of Vermont Community Newspaper Group’s five community weeklies. Tommy is well known throughout the Lamoille County area as he grew up in Morristown and Hyde Park and attended Johnson State College and is starting his 12th year as lead reporter and mentor to the other journalists at the company. Previously, he worked at the Hardwick Gazette.

We are incredibly fortunate to have someone as talented and experienced as Tommy to lead us forward. Known for his elegant and accessible writing, his work has also been regularly recognized by his peers in the regional newspaper awards contest.

In 2016, Gardner won the Mavis Doyle Award from the Vermont Press Association, which historically had been presented annually to one reporter in the state. The award is named for the former dean of the Statehouse press corps, and selection is based on “the reporter’s aggressiveness, determination, compassion, commitment to journalism, dedication to social justice and unwavering belief that journalism should be the watchdog of the government and the voice of the people.”

The role of publisher is going to be replaced by a management committee that will oversee all the operations of the newspaper group. Serving on the committee will be Bob Miller, who has been the majority owner of the newspapers for 12 years, sales manager Bryan Meszkat, production manager Katerina Werth, who will become general manager, and Tommy Gardner, editor.

This structure ensures that the company will be overseen by local employees and managers of the business and not by some out-of-state owner.

“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my 12-year ownership of these papers and working closely with Greg but it’s time to transfer the leadership and decision making to a younger and talented team of local managers who I’m excited to work with,” says Bob, who currently lives in Los Angeles.

All these moves will take place directly after the New Year.

09/11/2024

There’s a terrific new program for free Paxlovid, but many people don’t know about it.

07/18/2024

A tractor-trailer containing compressed gas was destroyed after it ignited for unknown reasons on Route 7 in North Ferrisburgh south of the Charlotte town line.

07/12/2024

The CSWD Drop-Off Center in Hinesburg will be CLOSED on Saturday, July 13, at the request of the Hinesburg Highway Department.

All other CSWD Drop-off Centers will be open from 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. as alternatives.

07/11/2024

04/26/2024

Howard Center’s Spring Community Education Series presents a free panel discussion, “Substance Use and Our Community,” with moderator Beth Holden, the center’s chief client services officer in the auditorium of

04/17/2024

Voters in the Champlain Valley Tuesday approved by 1,400 votes the school district’s second go at a school budget for next year.

04/05/2024

We’d love to see your eclipse photos. Send by Monday, after the event, of course! High resolution files works best.

Send to [email protected].

Be safe!

Illustration by Adelaide Murphy Tyrol, nhcf.org.

04/03/2024

To our loyal readers: Copies of the The Citizen won’t be delivered to the U.S. Post Office until Friday morning due to treacherous road conditions predicted for Wednesday night and into Thursday.

We apologize for the inconvenience but didn’t want to put our drivers at risk.

03/06/2024

The looming question of whether Charlotte would switch to a town manager form of government was officially put to rest, at least for now, when residents shot down the move

03/06/2024

Hinesburg voters on Tuesday approved the town’s $5.4 million budget while the two incumbents were reelected to the selectboard.

03/06/2024

The Champlain Valley School District’s budget was voted down Tuesday night, throwing the financial future of the state’s largest school district into question.